


The Fourth Wheel

by Steangine



Series: Seirin Team Genderbend [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Genderbending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-09 07:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3241181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine Daiki wasn’t sensible enough to be empathic with the others, so he couldn’t understand Kise’s anxiety of his first date until he got one himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01 # A spare wheel is never enough

**Author's Note:**

> **Pairing:** AoKuro + KiseKaga (Fem!Kuroko and Fem!Kagami)
> 
>  **Notes:** This was born as a one shot and then it turned out in… something I guess. It’s like a lot of clichés and fluffity fluff. All I know about American basketball is thanks to Wikipedia, so don’t take this too seriously.
> 
> What the characters think or the way they behave isn’t necessarily what I think or how I behave.

**01 #** A spare wheel is never enough

**_ _**

**__**

**__ **

Aomine arrived in front of the gates of Seirin High School and he still didn’t know how Satsuki convinced him to help Kise. Even if Momoi was able to drag him in whatever she wanted to do  — or wanted him to do.

“Aominecchi! I’m here!”

He greeted Kise by hitting him hard on the head. He needed to release his frustration and since the one who contributed to his current state of mind was right in front of him he just took the chance.

“Hey, Aominecchi that hurts!”

Aomine observed Kise carefully. He wasn’t used to see him wearing anything else than a school uniform, training clothes or his basketball jersey: the jacket, the shirt, the waistcoat and the trousers all together made him seem a bit more mature than usual and more similar to the model that smiled from every girlish magazine.

“Wow, these clothes must be expensive. Maybe I should have listened to Satsuki and wore something more appropriate.” Despite his words, it didn’t seem he was truly thinking what he said. “She even came to my house to check I wouldn’t have arrived late.” He snorted.

But Kise wasn’t listening to him anymore. He checked the surrounding, then looked at the clock and put his hands in the trousers’ pockets before taking again a look at the hour.

“Oi, Kise…”

Kise started walking to and fro in front of the closed gate. That was the first time Aomine saw such a nervous expression on him.

“…you are getting on my nerves, you know?”

Aomine didn’t even wanted to be there. That evening there was the pre-recorded exhibition game between the NBA teams Washington Wizards and Miami Heat. He had been waiting for days wondering on how he would have spent that evening: laying on the couch without food or drinks so he wouldn’t have lost even a second of the match.  
But he ended up being the third wheel in a date that Kise hadn’t enough guts to face alone.

“She should have been here already. Maybe something happened.”

Aomine checked his own watch and smacked again Kise on the head.

“We are still early. Since when are you here?!”

“About an hour. And stop hitting me Aominecchi!”

At least the hit managed to drag Kise away from his sick wandering.

“An hour…” The expression Aomine gave him was a mix between pity and skepticism. “Now you have to tell me...” He patted him once on the shoulder. “…how the hell did you manage to get a girlfriend if the thought of going out with her makes you pee your pants?”

“Wha — how can you be so rude and insensitive, Aominecchi! I can’t believe we are still friends!”

“We are not friends.”

“What?!”

His howl wasn’t manly at all and it probably was the main reason Kise froze with his face buried in horror when he heard a female voice calling him.

“Kise!”

Kise didn’t dare to turn. “Please Aominecchi, tell me she didn’t hear me.” His smile was trembling with fear.

“If she didn’t hear you I can tell how she can bear your blabbers. She must be deaf.”

Aomine spied over Kise. He wasn’t interested in the date but at least, since he had been dragged in that affair, he had enough curiosity to see the girl, that Kagami Taiga Kise always talked about. Even Momoi, who loved other people’s romantic affairs, sometimes arrived to hope he would have lost his voice.

And when Aomine saw her, he suddenly pretended to have back all the time he wasted listening to Kise’s praises.

Kagami had a generous breast, probably the same size as Satsuki’s, yet that was the only good thing Aomine could detect. Kagami was truly as tall as both of them -it wasn’t a lie-, her shoulders and hips were too wide and those strange eyebrows gave her a constantly frowned look  — or was she just as nervous as Kise? Aomine couldn’t tell, but he was sure that girl probably would have been a better show if she were a male. A girl couldn’t be that huge.

“Sorry. Did I make you wait?”

“Not at all. I’ve just arrived!”

Kise tried to put on his _model’s smile_ , charming and self-confident, yet Aomine saw how he hid his hands on the pockets and squeezed the cloth to relieve himself from the stress. His muscles were quite stiff, more than usual.

“Yeah… just arrived.” Aomine barely ended to talk and received a jab on the stomach.

“Uhm… Kagamicchi, did you come alone?”

Among the pain Aomine hoped so; that way he would have had an excuse to go back to his NBA match and Kise’s pleas wouldn’t have moved him. Kagami looked at them dumbfounded and this made Aomine doubt even more that Kise had good tastes in girls. She looked like an idiot.

“No, she didn’t.”

An unknown voice surprised them and a girl popped out from nowhere. She was tiny in comparison to Kagami and everything in her gave the idea she could suddenly disappear in front of their eyes.

“I’m Kuroko Tetsuya, nice to meet you.”

Kise was the first one to recover from the shock.

“N-nice to meet you, Kuroko.” He hurried and got closer to Kagami. A light blush spread on his cheeks. “So, let’s go?”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

Kagami wasn’t able to smile back, she just frowned more in embarrassment and Aomine was sure that Kise had totally lost his mind to like a girl like that  — probably Aomine hit him on the head too many times, so he felt a bit guilty. But Kise chuckled gently and started to talk to her.

“We should go as well.”

Aomine didn’t know how he couldn’t notice that Kuroko had approached him. His heart lost a beat from the shock.

“Do you usually appear like that?”

“I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t even pretty enough to be noticeable. And her chest was barely visible through her blouse. That would have been an horrible evening, he felt it deep inside.

Aomine sighed. “Okay, let’s go.”

 

***

 

The very moment they arrived at the cinema, Aomine and Kise were left facing the crowd to buy the tickets  — Kise offered himself to pay the tickets and Aomine followed him before the girls could say anything; he didn’t want to stay alone with them.

“Kise, just tell me a thing…”

“What?”

Kise’s smile hadn’t faded away even for a second since he met Kagami and his good behavior worsened Aomine’s. Before he tried to start a talk with Kuroko, when they dropped by Maji Burger to eat something; just watching the two sweethearts chatting was too annoying, but since books and libraries weren’t in his field of knowledge, Aomine didn’t try to proceed over and lingered in his state of compassionate boredom while nibbling at his hamburger.

“What do you actually like of Kagami?”

“Huh… what’s with that question? I don’t know. I suppose everything.”

“…everything what?”

“Well, she is just adorable, don’t you think so?”

Kise was so excited in seeking a confirmation that if it was someone more cautious than Aomine probably he or she would have agreed or replied with some care.

“I think you should ask Midorima where he got his glasses. How can you like her?”

Kise froze as his face slowly turned sullen.

“You aren’t gentle at all, Aominecchi.”

Aomine felt the cold in his voice.

“Okay, okay. Your girlfriend, your choice. But since you are a model there are bunches of beautiful girls who would fight to go out with you even just for one day. And you chose the — “

“The worst?”

Kise ended up the sentence exactly in the way Aomine would have. His eyes hardened he didn’t say a word anymore until they paid the tickets.

It wasn’t so strange that Kise gave someone the cold shoulder; during middle school he acted like that many times with people he didn’t know well, yet being the one treated in that way made Aomine feel unease since Kise with him was always more than friendly.

“Did you argue?”

Kuroko spoke again out of nowhere and Aomine startled.

“Stop popping out like a mushroom!”

“You aren’t gentle at all.”

“You don’t seem to be touched, anyway.”

He didn’t even know what film Kise chose. Aomine looked at the ticket and paled: since when that scaredy-cat liked horror films?

“Kagami chose it. Are you scared?”

Kuroko read his thought through his face, yet he tried to strike an attitude.

“Tch. I just wanted to see something else.”

About half an hour later Aomine found very difficult to maintain his cool approach to the situation. He didn’t remember that horror films were so scary from the very beginning; but since he only had seen barely two in all his life he accepted the fact that his judgment was wrong.  
His fingers were almost digging into the hard armrest because of the strength he was using to prevent himself from squeaking or running out from the theater.

Another frightful scene was showed with no advice on the screen -no one was expecting that outcome- and Aomine startled on the seat. He was quite sure that somebody noticed him.

He turned towards Kise, because he was sure his friend was feeling the same and this would have reassured him. Yet what Aomine saw was Kise rigid in his seat as Kagami was clinging on him on the verge of the tears; from the dreamy look Kise was making, Aomine assumed that he hadn’t been seeing a bit of the film but was simply enjoying the sensation of Kagami hugging him.

“Aomine-kun.”

Aomine expired in a heavy breath all the air he had stored in his lunges.

“I didn’t intend to scare you, sorry.”

“You didn’t scare me.”

Kuroko was looking at him with a creepy blank stare. “You don’t have to act cool.”

“I’m not — oh, whatever…”

“I need to go to the toilet. Could you please accompany me?”

Normally he would have declined the request -making exception for Satsuki- yet he caught the chance.

“Alright.”

The fresh air of the lounge reassured Aomine and he felt better. He wouldn’t have come back in theater again.  
He should have just stayed at home and watch the match as he had planned instead of giving up to Satsuki’s bothersome lecture about _the duty of a friend_. To  Aomine it seemed that Kise was truly enjoying his date, so his fears of _being alone with Kagamicchi_ were just illusions which contributed to ruin his evening.

“Tch…”

While he wondered how the match could have ended a bottle of water appeared in front of his eyes.

“Huh?”

“Here. This is for you.”

Kuroko sat next to him.

“Thank you. You shouldn’t have.”

“You looked pale.” She gave him a look. “I’m very sorry.”

“For what? Kagami chose the film, even if she doesn’t seem to like the genre…”

If Aomine succeeded to hide his fear ad much as possible, Kagami failed right after the first attempt and all the impressive scenes were accompanied by her shouts.

“I told her this was the best way to hug Kise without the embarrass of the moment. But I surely underestimated her fear for the horror…” Kuroko sighed with resignation. “Probably I failed.”

“No, probably not. Kise could explode from happiness since Kagami was hiding her face on him from the very beginning.”

“That’s a good thing.” Yet Kuroko didn’t seem very happy. “I would have been pissed off if the date wouldn’t have gone well.”

“That’s a deep affection you have for her, huh?”

“No. I renounced to watch the NBA exhibition game to accompany her. “ For the first time she didn’t cover herself behind a plain expression and wrinkled her eyebrows in disappointment. “But this was the only day Kise was free from work. It had to go well or else I would have beaten her down, since she wanted to see it too.”

Kuroko felt quite unease seeing Aomine’s puzzled look on her.

“Uhm… Aomine-kun, is there something wrong?”

Aomine opened his mouth and then closed it before speaking. “…and you were looking forward to…”

“Well, it is the coming back of John Wall after his injury.”

That date suddenly became more interesting.

 

***

 

At the end of the film Kagami didn’t find the strength to look at Kise. She spent almost two hours squeaking and trembling while trying to watch everything; due to the fear she didn’t remember anything except for the scary frames  — and they were too much in her opinion.  
She didn’t know if she should have felt more embarrassed because she couldn’t hide her fear or because she sought relief by hugging Kise all the time. Her pride was quite shattered.

“Kagamicchi, is everything alright?”

She washed her face once more and exchanged a self-confident look to her reflection on the mirror. Then she felt worst: she had washed away all the make-up and everytrace of cuteness that Kuroko managed to obtain from her had sunk into the wash bin.

“Yes, I’m alright.”

Kagami wasn’t aware of the grumpy look she put on and when she got out Kise, who was waiting just near the door, appeared unsettled.

“Maybe Aominecchi and Kuroko are on the hall.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Kise didn’t actually care about Aomine or Kuroko’s whereabouts but he had to say something just to break the tension he felt every time Kagami was near him.

Probably Aomine was quite right. Kise was handsome and he was aware of it. From the primary school girls had always fought to have even a bit of his attention and it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to pick up a beauty if he just wanted to.

Then Kagami arrived. She was stubborn and painfully direct when she spoke and her eyebrows were so ridiculous, giving her a permanent frowning look, that the first time they met he wasn’t even sure she was a female  — but her generous breast was quite an evidence. And she was big too. And two centimeters taller than him. The complete opposite of all the pretty girls who chased him daily.  
But Kise, for some reasons he didn’t know, started to like Kagami anyway. He understood it in the moment he was aware that he couldn’t avert his eyes from her every time they met  — and they met often, because Kagami was a greedy basketball player and she was so strong that average Japanese players in her school couldn’t satisfy her.

“Kagamicchi…”

Kise slowly stretched his right arm around Kagami’s hips. He touched her back in a slight caress and reached her thigh to press her against his body. When Kagami turned, their faces where so close that Kise’s mind exploded with the urge of kissing her.

“Uh?” Kagami stared at him bewildered. “I can walk alone, Kise.”

Everything froze around Kise. A bothersome palpitation of his temples was everything that remained of all his excitement.

“Ah. Yes, sorry.” He let her go and massaged his neck in distress. “I thought you were still… from the film…”

Kagami in her naivety didn’t saw his intentions and stared at his embarrassed chuckle until she arrived slightly near to the meaning of that action.

“Kise.” She surprised him by grasping his hand. “If we stay like this it’s easier to walk. And we can stay closer.”

_ Closer. _

The word bursted into Kise with a strong warmth.

“You are right, Kagamicchi.”

His smile shone with happiness and he seemed younger than he usually appeared when he assumed that cool appearance he put on from time to time.  
Kagami kissed him on the cheek. Kise’s eyes widened.

“…wha — “

“D-did I do something wrong?”

She suddenly realized that probably in Japan things worked in a different way and maybe she was too reckless. Kagami just wanted to kiss Kise, because in that moment he was so attractive she couldn’t restrain herself; but she didn’t consider the cultural differences, she had never done it since she arrived in Japan. Yet in that moment she despised her impulsive behavior.

“No, no.” Kise flushed and raised his voice. “No, it was… pleasant. You know, I just didn’t expect it.”

The few girls he went out with expected to be him to make the first move and to be him to kiss them  — even if he never arrived to that point before Kagami. So he was feeling a mix among confusion, shock and happiness which lead him to have a bewildered and stupid expression on his face.

Kise strengthened his grip on Kagami’s hand. Kagami grinned happily.

“Kise, let’s go to Maji Burger.”

“Ah, we went there before.”

Kagami realized she was hungry since she barely eat one hamburger when they first dropped by the Maji. Her stomach was blocked by the anxiety and somewhere in her brain was hidden the fear of appearing a binge eater in front of Kise, as the usual amount of food she ordered was at least five times than the average. But she realized she didn’t mind anymore.

“I’m hungry.”

“Okay then.”

“But where’s Kuroko? She always disappears.”

Kagami frowned and looked around.

“Does it happen often?”

“You have no idea…”

Kuroko had the bad habit to disappear and pop out from nowhere and Kagami wasn’t still used to it, even if they had known each other since for four months already.

“Ah, she is there.”

“Where?”

Kise was looking at a table near the counter in the lounge and all Kagami could see for a moment was Aomine gesticulating like crazy. In front of him there was Kuroko listening with attention. Then she laughed softly and Aomine massaged his head.  
Kise didn’t remember have seen Aomine so concentrated outside a basketball field but when Kuroko started talking he was literally hanging on every word she said.

“Heh…” Kise pouted. “And he was sulking about coming with us.”

He was still angry at him. However he had Kagami’s hand into his and he didn’t mind at all.


	2. 02 # Birds of a feather may be different

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine Daiki wasn’t sensible enough to be empathic with the others, so he couldn’t understand Kise’s anxiety of his first date until he got one himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Pairing:** AoKuro + KiseKaga (Fem!Kuroko and Fem!Kagami)
> 
>  **Notes:** This was born as a one shot and then it turned out in… something I guess. It’s like a lot of clichés and fluffity fluff. All I know about Japanese summer festivals is thanks to manga, so don’t take this too seriously. I didn’t call it Matsuri because I’m not sure if it’s really the same thing.
> 
> What the characters think or the way they behave isn’t necessarily what I think or how I behave.

** THE FOURTH WHEEL _  
_ _ 02 #  _ ** Birds of a feather may be different

 

“I don’t believe you, Dai-chan.”

“Why?”

Aomine was lazily swinging on the unbalanced chair while eating the sandwich bought in the dining hall. He refused to eat the disaster Satsuki dared to call lunch.

“Because there’s no way that such a cute girl would be interested in a tanned monkey like you.”

Aomine almost chocked. He coughed and lost the balance and believed for a while he would have fallen. With a great effort he managed to make the chair fall on the right side and took a deep breath.

“Satsuki!”

“It’s the truth.”

The few people in the classroom gazed at them for a while.

“You don’t know what you are saying!”

“Did you meet her again after _Kise_ ’s date?” She marked his name.

Aomine’s silence was enough as an answer.

“Dai-chan, are you sure the interest was mutual?”

“We exchanged e-mails and are chatting a lot!”

“About what?”

“Basketball.”

“And?”

“And basketball. What should we chat about?”

Momoi sometimes tried to remember why she was still friend with such an idiot and felt like the excuse of Aomine being someone who needed to be taken care of wasn’t enough anymore.

“I don’t think she is interested in gravure magazines.”

“No.” Momoi’s look was emptied from all her hopes about Aomine. “Probably not.” She sighed. “Are you intentioned to hang out with her again?”

“Well, yes.”

“And what would you do?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we can go play basketball. She is in Seirin’s female team, you know?”

“Dai-chan.” Momoi acted as she was facing a child, her voice full of patience. “I don’t think that can count as a date.”

“Why not?”

“There’s no need to explain since you will never ask her to hang out.”

“Heh? What are you saying?”

“You act so mighty but in the end you are hopeless when it comes to girls. So you just should pray for her making the first step.”

“I can call her whenever I want!”

“Yes, sure…”

Momoi’s conceit expression got on Aomine’s nerves so much that he didn’t think twice and took his mobile. Before he could realize that Satsuki was mockingly smiling at him with a satisfied light shining in her eyes, Kuroko’s voice echoed in his ear.

“Tetsu!”

Even if Momoi was witnessing the moment, she couldn’t totally believe that Aomine, her rude, idiot and crybaby childhood friend, actually blushed.

“What does it mean _what do I want_?”

Aomine remained speechless until he blabbered again in agitation.

“No, I haven’t called you just to hear you!” He shouted out before spreading his eyes in horror. “Well, I just — “

He massaged his neck in distress and looked around as an help could pop out from the walls. Then he saw it. Momoi was holding a piece of paper with a single word written on it.

“Uh-ah. No, no Tetsu.  Hold on! The Festival, let’s go together! …what do you mean what shrine? Well, you cho — ” Momoi shook her head and Aomine gulped his own words. “Okay. Let’s meet in front of your school and then we’ll go. It’s a surprise! Bye!”

He closed the call but his hand was still trembling. “Did you see that, Satsuki?!” He tried to act as if he had everything under control.

“I saw that. You owe me a cherry sundae for the advice.”

“What?”

“And if you want some more advice for the date, it’ll cost a lunch.”

“As if! I don’t need them! Last time we were perfectly fine!”

 

***

 

Last time they were perfectly fine.

Those words echoed in his head with less intensity until the point they were suffocated by his regrets. When Aomine reached the gates of the Seirin High School he seriously thought he should have listened to Satsuki and accepted his help.

He was more than one hour early, so he had plenty of time to internally complain on how it was so hot that he became already all sweaty and sticky and how probably his kimono looked ugly  — why didn’t he buy a new one when his mother told him?

_ All these thoughts… I seem Kise. _

“…Aomine-kun?”

Aomine felt his stomach freezing painfully. Breathing suddenly became difficult and he was almost sure he made a strange noise while trying to remember the correct way to inspire the air inside the lungs.

“Aomine-kun.”

Kuroko was right behind him and he couldn’t ignore her forever unless he wanted to put an end to their relationship before starting it properly.

He turned with a huge and trembling smile. “Hey! Hi Te — “ he breathed heavily. “ — tsu .”

Aomine , until that moment, had bypassed the particular that Kuroko would have worn a kimono too.  
There were butterflies on her kimono and a ribbon in her hair: she moved from being pretty lame to being very pretty and Aomine didn’t expected it.

“Good evening, Aomine-kun.”

Among all the things Aomine wanted to say, he picked up the most stupid.

“You are too early. We should meet in an hour.”

“I’m sorry. Did you have something else to do before?”

“No.” Aomine wrinkled. “Why are you here?”

“Because you said we would have met here.”

“Yes, but in an hour.”

“My watch must be one hour late and I didn’t notice.”

Aomine still remembered Kise and his first date with Kagami; how he was anxious and how Aomine himself experienced that anxiety  — and he was still feeling it.

“To me it seems you were impatient and then came here.”

“No.” She kept a straight face. “I’ve just told you that probably my watch is one hour late. Maybe you are the one who were too impatient.”

“I wasn’t! And you are lying!”

“I’m not lying.”

“You are totally lying!”

“You are being very rude.”

“But you lied!”

“How can you say that?”

“You could have checked other watches.”

“I only have one.”

“How can you have just one watch at home, Tetsu?!”

“My house is small.”

Aomine opened his mouth and closed it. His mind was working on a proper reply but it was difficult to find one because the discussion became suddenly absurd for his standards.

“…you are too stubborn.”

Kuroko didn’t lose her calmness. “Since we are already here we can go to the festival.”

“And don’t change topic like that!”

 

***

 

Until they got in touch through messages Aomine knew just that side of Kuroko related to basketball, the one which made him notice her. But life, as Momoi kept repeating him, unfortunately didn’t revolve only around basketball and Aomine was too carefree to notice it unless he didn’t experience it.

“Member of the library committee. Sounds boring.”

“Not at all. I can read all the books I want and keep them for a longer time.”

“Ah… interesting.” Aomine didn’t hide his scarce interest.

“What do you usually read, Aomine-kun?”

“Basketball monthly and gravure magazine.”

“Are there any articles into gravure magazines?”

“Yes. But that’s not the good part.”

“I see…”

Both felt the heavy atmosphere falling on them once again.

Aomine started to fear that if the topic wasn’t basketball he couldn’t have a proper chat with Kuroko. Every time one of them began to talk the discussion ended up into a void of embarrass.

“Hum… Tetsu?” Aomine stroked his neck, he didn’t want to give up. “Maybe you’ve already told me… but which school will you face in your next matc — Tetsu?”

He looked at his left and right side but he couldn’t see Kuroko anywhere. All around him there was a stream of strangers and lights and he had lost Kuroko into that colored crowd of a midsummer festival.

“Tetsu!”

“Aomine-kun.” Kuroko appeared next to him. “Sorry. A group of people didn’t notice me and stumbled on me.”

Aomine wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh.

“Be more careful. Are you hurt?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“That’s quite troublesome. Take my — “ _hand_ “ — kimono, so I won’t lose sight of you.”

As he spoke a gradual warmth rose on his face.

“Alright.”

Aomine felt Kuroko’s light grip on his sleeve and took a deep and silent breath to calm down.

“By the way, Aomine-kun.”

“What?”

“Do you like only Horikita Mai-chan?”

That question made him almost choke with his own breath.

“…eh?”

“I was asking if you liked any other model.”

“N-no. I just buy her magazines. Why?”

“Why?”

“Why are you asking me such a thing?”

“There are a lot of models with big boobs, so there must be a reason you like her the most, right?”

Aomine looked at Kuroko. Then his eyes wandered on the crowd. And he looked again at her.

“Well, the first magazine I bought was with her on the cover. I guess it’s affection.”

He wondered if he was more confused by the question itself or he couldn’t just believe that a girl asked something like that.

“I see.”

It seemed like they didn’t manage to keep a conversation more than one or two minutes before facing a wall of silence.  
Probably they didn’t have anything in common besides basketball. The thought didn’t help Aomine and he turned his eyes while stroking his neck. A banana chocolate stall on their right caught his attention.

“Oi, Tetsu. Let’s go there.”

“There are a lot of people.” 

Too many people were in line for their turn and Aomine expected her to complain for it.

“So they must be delicious. We should buy them.”

“…yeah, we should.”

However there were really too many people. Aomine’s patience run out when they didn’t even arrived at a half from where they started.

“Tetsu, maybe we should go… somewhere else.”

Kuroko was gone again.

“Tetsu?”

She was nowhere around him.

“Aomine-kun.”

Aomine shrieked.

“Don’t appear behind me!”

Kuroko tilted her head. She was carrying a stuffed toy shaped as a dog.

“Here.”

“What?”

“It’s for you. I won this at a stall.”

“Ah…” Aomine accepted it. “Thank you.”

The toy was quite cute. Small, black and white with wide blue eyes.

_ Shouldn’t I be the one to do this? _

What a strange girl was Kuroko.

Aomine smirked and took her hand.

“Follow me!”

The shooting gallery was his specialty. It took Aomine just a round to catch a stuffed toy under the eyes of the astonished owner.

“Tch. I wanted the other one.”

“But you missed a shoot.”

“I didn’t. That old man must have put some weights in some targets so they won’t go down.”

“I like it. Don’t worry.”

“But it’s quite…”

Kuroko put the toy Aomine won near the one she got herself.

“It’s smaller.” She didn’t change her expression and raised her head to stare into Aomine’s eyes. “I won.”

“Eh? Was it a match?”

“No. But I won. I didn’t miss anything.”

“Stop looking so proud! I don’t even know where you got this, so we can’t compare!”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s like comparing basketball and cooking!”

Aomine realized he wasn’t pissed off and his face hurt because he was feeling a natural need to smile but still endured it without a real reason.

“Then I suggest to settle this by catching water balloons.”

Kuroko was serious. She didn’t divert her gaze from Aomine’s incredulous face.

“…be prepared to buy me some takoyaki, Tetsu.”

“You are the one who will pay. I won’t lose.”

As they approached the stall Aomine couldn’t hide his excitement.

Among all the balloons they caught, they kept just one each: pink for Aomine and orange for Kuroko. They gave all the remnants to the children who had been staring at them in amaze since the beginning of their little challenge; Kuroko pointed out that it would have been troublesome walking around while carrying all those things.  
After buying some takoyakithey sat on a bench to enjoy the meal.

“In the end it was a spare.” Aomine wasn’t truly satisfied.

“Well, we still had to eat. It would have been bothersome spending all our money on water balloons.” Kuroko blew on a steaming takoyaki. “Why did you choose that color, Aomine-kun?”

“Ah, this? I took it randomly, I guess I’ll give this to Satsuki.”

“Satsuki?”

“Ah, my childhood friend.”

“How is she?”

“Nah, you don’t wanna know. Whatever I do she scolds me and she acts like she is my mother. Even at school I wasn’t free. We’ve attended the same school since we were young. She is persecuting me…”

“But you care about her enough to give her a present.”

“I just don’t know what to do with this.” He made the balloon bounce once.“What will you do with yours?”

“I think I’ll throw it at Kagami-san.”

“Thro — “ Aomine shivered. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I am.”

Aomine’s mind shifted for a moment. Throwing a water balloon at Kise would have been a great fun but then he remembered that Kise was still mad at him.

He removed the thought from his mind and concentrated on Kuroko. She was eating in a gracious way, taking tiny bites and barely moving any facial muscle while chewing. Aomine put a takoyaki in his mouth and slowly chewed.

Kuroko’s ribbon was almost unraveled and she had a stain of sauce on the corner of her mouth; her collarbone was slightly exposed through the kimono. Aomine swallowed and the flavor of the takoyaki surprised him: he had almost forgotten that he was eating one.

“Tetsu. Your ribbon is…” He had the desire to touch her hair but he didn’t. “…unraveled. Do you need a hand to fix it?”

“Ah.” She touched her head. “Yes, thank you.”

Aomine expected a _no_ and it took him a while to grasp the situation. He flushed and his fingers trembled; tying a ribbon shouldn’t have been so different from tying shoelaces but what he obtained was a messy lump of cloth.

“Uhm… I did it.” He hoped she noticed it only when she would have got back home.

“Thank you.”

Kuroko made a tiny smile. She still had the stain near her lips.

“T-Tetsu, you — “

“Your nose is bleeding.”

“What?”

“Aomine-kun, your nose is bleeding.”

He touched the skin under his nose; it was wet and red. Aomine looked at the blood on his fingers in astonishment until he felt suddenly cold near the forehead.  
Kuroko was gently pressing the can of juice on him. He endured the pain of the cold.

“Thank you…”

“When it’s hot it’s easy to bleed.”

Aomine didn’t know if Kuroko said that to relieve him or just to share some information but he grasped to that to avoid feeling like a total idiot.

“We should play together sometimes.” He blurted out. “I mean basketball. One on one.”

“But I’m not that good when it comes to one on one.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Aomine’s head was bursting from the warmness, despite the freezing can, and probably the dizzy sensation was caused by the loss of blood. His body felt heavy but his head was lighter than usual; he was quietly wobbling.  
Kuroko’s face was too close, too worried, too cute. And he was just a big sweaty idiot with an ugly kimono and a bleeding nose.

Satsuki was right. There was no way that a girl like Tetsu would have been interested in somebody like him.

“I’m looking forward to play with you, Aomine-kun.”

Aomine raised his head so fast that his vision blurred for a moment. Yet he could see it clearly: Kuroko’s smile was soft and bright. Aomine felt like all the summer heat invaded his body.

“Then let’s play tomorrow!”

“Alright.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” Kuroko stood up. “Your nose stopped bleeding. Maybe we should go, or else we won’t find a nice spot to watch the fireworks.”

Aomine followed her. “Not so fast.” He took her hand and was quite pleased to see a trace of surprise on her face. “If I let you alone I’ll lose you on the crowd again.”

He was red on his face. She was too. Both smiled.

“However, Aomine-kun…”

“What?”

“I hope you are better at playing basketball than at tying ribbons.”

 

***

 

Kagami was good at basketball and Kuroko truly sucked, she wasn’t just acting all modest. But Aomine couldn’t detach his attention from her, who still played with all her might and enjoyed it as she was doing the most wonderful thing in the world.  
He took a sip of water and refreshed himself from the warmth that was growing more and more inside his body.

“I didn’t think she would have called Kise and Kagami too…” He muttered to himself. Deep down he desired to be alone with her with the hope that _something more_ would have happened.

Kise kneeled next to him and rummaged into his bag in a complete silence.

“Here.”

Aomine handed out his bottle. Kise ignored it.

“Tch… she’s good. For you.” He sighed. “She isn’t the worst I guess. I mean, that one that kept buggering you during middle school was worse.”

Kise didn’t reply but he sat down.

“And… it seems she isn’t around you just for your pretty face. She isn’t all lovey-dovey and stuff.”

Kise took the bottle and drank.

“…I was angry because I wanted to see the match and not just recording it, so I said the first think I thought. Kagami isn’t really my type, even if she has huge boobs, but if you like her and she likes you that’s good for you.”

Kise finally looked at him and Aomine frowned.

“…okay! I’m sorry! Are you happy?!”

He yelled so loudly that Kuroko and Kagami quickly glanced at them in the middle of the play.

Kise grinned. “Yes. I suppose this can barely go. But I’ll forgive you anyway, since it’s you, Aominecchi.” In a while the old fidgeting Kise came back and Aomine quite regretted it. “So, Aominecchi, tell me tell me.” He was surely just waiting for that moment, as his grin widened. “What did you do with Kurokocchi yesterday?”

“Kurokocch — ? How did you know about yesterday?” And since when was he so friendly with Kuroko?

“Momocchi.”

Aomine made a mental note to scold Satsuki later.

“I won’t tell a thing.”

“Aaaah! You are unpleasant, Aominecchi!” Kise sulked but his expression melted into one of pure pleasure. “You know, I kissed with Kagamicchi two days ago.” He made a tiny laughter. “I’m still quite embarrassed.”

Aomine was sure that Kise was just waiting to reconcile to talk about him and Kagami. And he was irritated by his good mood once again.

“Well, she was the one who started the kiss.” He chuckled. “Do you want to know how it happened?” He was just quivering for the impatience to spill it, his eyes were shining.

“Oi, Kise?”

“Yes?”

Kise was smacked hard on the head.

“WHY??!”

“Because you are fucking annoying.” Aomine growled and jumped on his foot. “Tetsu! Let Kagami go and play together with me!”

_ I swear I’ll manage to go over holding hands and I’ll kiss her too! _

__

__

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it ends. I just wanted to write something very frilly, that’s why there’s barely no introspection (even if, according to me, there could be tons of things to say about these two pairings with Kuroko and Kagami in genderbend). This means I don’t think Kise acts like a puppy all the time and he forgave Aomine so easily because he knows him and he had time to reflect on it too (though I guess he’ll make him pay somehow).  
> I hope you enjoyed reading it as I enjoyed writing it.


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